Mid-South Community College on June 2 took the final step toward its world-class hospitality management program with the dedication of the Jeremy Jacobs Hospitality Management Center – named in honor of Delaware North Chairman Jeremy Jacobs.
The Jeremy Jacobs Hospitality Management Center features classrooms, a thermal bottling laboratory,
bakery and food service preparation rooms, a computer laboratory, receiving/multipurpose area, and freezer and dry storage areas. Funding and support for the facility came from a variety of sources, including Delaware North and Southland Park Gaming & Racing, which Delaware North owns and operates in West Memphis, Ark. – not far from Mid-South Community College.
Delaware North co-CEO Lou Jacobs was among those from the company’s senior leadership team to speak at the event, discussing the significance of the West Memphis, Ark., community to his family.
“My grandfather had a keen interest in Southland in its early days,” Jacobs said. “My dad [Jeremy Jacobs] came down here to West Memphis [in 1967] and started to pursue the acquisition.
"My grandfather [Louis M. Jacobs, one of the company's founders] passed away in 1968, and my dad closed on the transaction in 1968. So Southland has the unique history of being the last deal that my father worked with his father on and the first deal my father closed on as the new CEO of the company. Southland has always had a special place, and West Memphis as a community has always had a special place for the company and my family. I understand we don’t reside in West Memphis, but we very much feel a part of the community as partners.”
Delaware North and its team at Southland Park Gaming & Racing are no strangers to Mid-South Community College. Delaware North in August 2014 made the third installment of a $1 million donation to
the school that is distributed $100,000 at a time over 10 years.
“As is the case with many of our most significant advancements, we are indebted to Southland [Park Gaming & Racing] and Delaware North for their willingness to make such major investments in what we’re trying to accomplish as a college and a community,” said Glen Fenter, president of Mid-South Community College. “We anticipate that the Jeremy Jacobs Hospitality Management Center will open a variety of economic development doors that will generate jobs and a brighter future for our region.”
PHOTO CAPTION: Pictured from left to right at the dedication are Lou Jacobs, co-CEO of Delaware North; Ness Sechrest, chairman of the Southland Park Gaming & Racing board of directors; Chuck Moran, president of Delaware North; Glen Fenter, president of Mid-South Community College; and Troy Keeping, president and general manager at Southland Park Gaming & Racing and regional vice president of Delaware North’s gaming business.